Turkish counter -Kombimb

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin stated on Wednesday that Russia is ready to refuse the construction of the South Stream due to Turkey's impregnance. However, this is just bargaining with partners. A month ago, Putin in Brussels advertised very actively a month ago, and soon he flies to discuss him in Slovenia and Serbia.

Russia may abandon the large fuel and energy project "South Stream". This was based on the results of the meeting of President Dmitry Medvedev and the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Erdogan told Kommersant Deputy Prime Minister, the curator of FEC Igor Sechin. As the official explained, Gazprom can build a gas liquefaction plant on the Black Sea, and this enterprise will become either a complement or one of the alternatives to the pipeline on the Day of the Sea. Vladimir Putin on March 9, literally a week before the highest level negotiations between the leadership of Russia and Turkey, instructed the Ministry of Energy to prepare a project for the construction of a plant for the production of liquefied natural gas on the Black Sea coast.

According to the newspaper, the Russian authorities are ready to leave the South Stream project, because Türkiye has not yet issued permission to lay the pipeline through its exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. Ankara promised the final permission to give in December 2010, but now Gazprom has only permission to conduct survey work in hand.

The South Stream is a gas pipeline project that should go along the bottom of the Black Sea from Novorossiysk to the Bulgarian port of Varna. Further, two branches will pass through the Balkan Peninsula to Italy and Austria. According to the plans, the gas pipeline should go into operation by 2015. The planned power of the South Stream is 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The appraisal cost of the project is 8.6 billion euros.

Türkiye claims that it cannot give such a permit, because Gazprom did not submit the entire package of the necessary documents. “But Gazprom cannot imagine them, because they were given permission to conduct survey work only from May 31,” said Igor Sechin.

Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko claimed that the construction of the LNG plant on the Black Sea coast will not lead to the refusal of Russia from the implementation of the South Stream project, and the LNG option is the issue of an alternative gas delivery method.

Yes, and Europeans are persistently advertising the southern stream. During a meeting with the European Commissioners in Brussels, Vladimir Putin and the Gazprom’s reproduction Alexei Miller painted the relevance of the South Stream in the current situation in North Africa and the countries of the Middle East. According to the Russian prime minister, the North Stream and South Stream gas pipelines acquire “additional relevance” in these circumstances. “If these flows had already worked, there would be much less risks for Europe. And the prices, I think, would have been a little less, ”said Putin. “The external situation develops in such a way that the South Stream project becomes even more relevant, in demand and very timely,” said Alexei Miller.

In addition, in mid -April in the same Brussels, a large -scale final presentation of the Southern Stream of the European Commission will be held.

At first they expected that everything was consistent with Turkey by the end of the last year. Now it is expected that Türkiye will provide the final permission to lay the pipeline on November 1, 2011. So the current explanations of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister are the next designation of the negotiation position and an invitation to the dialogue.

Türkiye wants more favorable conditions for the supply of Russian gas from Russia and delays negotiations. In response, Russia demonstrates that the gas liquefaction plant will build and Turkish consent will not be so necessary for it. At the same time, Russia claims that in general, it agrees to negotiations. “And we, of course, plan to adhere to the existing approach. But, on the other hand, we repeatedly told our Turkish friends that in a number of cases we are ready to consider various approaches, respond to some proposals taking into account the market conditions, but this process should be mutual, ”said Dmitry Medvedev in the midst of the meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.

The project has real difficulties, but the Russian authorities have invested so much strength in the project that the refusal would be too demonstrative and infantile.

Gazprom projects on diversification of supplies bypassing traditional transitors-Belarusian and Ukraine-so far are beautiful only on the map, in the presentations of the company itself and in propaganda programs of Russian TV. In practice, they cause known skeptical remarks of experts (such as solving the problem of filling the pipe and too rainbow assessments with the gas company of Europe in Russian gas) and the real resistance of various counterparties. The North Stream torpedoed the countries of the Baltic region on the problems of ecology and Gazprom had to coordinate the project with all countries for a long time - from Finland to the Baltic countries.

In the case of the “southern stream” of interested countries, no less, and each has to conclude specific agreements on laying the gas pipeline on their territory. The negotiations with Serbia were difficult. So next week, the Russian prime minister flies to Slovakia and Serbia to discuss the fate of the Southern Stream. Bulgaria generally stated (after the socialists came to replace the new government of the right -centers, led by Boyko Borisov) on the revision of all energy agreements with Russia. However, after Putin Putin, the puppy Buffy and the long -preceding negotiations that preceded this act of negotiations between the countries melted a little.

There are disagreements between partners in the marine part of the project - Russians and the Italian ENI - about the entry into the project of the third participant represented by the French EDF. True, it was recently said that the disagreements were almost overcome. According to Miller, in recent negotiations in Rome the parties stated that "they have no fundamental disagreements." “The new agreement of shareholders and negotiations will continue. ENI and I hope that in the near future the final agreement will be reached with EDF, ”Miller said.

In other words: Any bold initiative claimed by Russia concerns a narrow subject of bidding. And the project will still be implemented. As expected: not on time and much more expensive, but the gas pipeline will appear.